The history of flowers as decoration

Flowers are one of the oldest forms of decoration known to man. People have been using flowers as a decoration since almost the beginning of time. The attraction is not hard to understand, people have always admired flowers for their beauty.

Although cave paintings indicate that flowers have been used as decorations since the days of the cave men the first people who we have any real knowledge of their use of flowers is the Egyptians. Carved stone reliefs tell as that the Egyptians used flowers as part of their burial ceremonies as well as placing them in vases as decorations in their homes. To the Egyptians flowers had symbolic meaning, usually religious and the flowers used in arrangements were carefully selected based on their meanings.

The ancient Greeks used flowers as a decoration in a different way then the Egyptians did. Rather than using vases to display their flowers the Greeks preferred to make them into wreaths. The Romans came along and pretty much followed the Greek traditions. Again the flowers had symbolic significance and where where carefully chosen.

The ancient Chinese also frequently used flowers as decorations and yet again there was a religious significance to the different flowers. The Chinese actually used plants as herbal medicines and it was the flowers that grew on these herbs that took on religious meaning. It was common to place cut flowers in the water at the temples of ancient China.

The Europeans were amongst the last to use flowers as a decoration, probably because there aren’t that many flowers that are native to northern Europe. It wasn’t until the middle ages that flowers became a popular decoration, as with everywhere else mostly for religious reasons. It was in the churches that flowers first started to be used as decoration. It was the crusades that brought the flowers to Europe and then during the Renaissance the voyages to the new world. As the Europeans began to see the flowers growing in other parts of the world and bring them back home flowers became more and more popular as decorations.

It was during Renaissance that flower arranging went from being done for religious reasons to being done for the aesthetic appeal. In an age of great artists this should probably come as no surprise. Rather than arranging flowers purely for their religious significance the Renaissance flower arrangers put flowers together simply because they looked good. They were the first to really focus on contrasting colours, they also added other features like tropical fruits to the arrangements.

Flowers have long appealed to man because of their beauty and since almost the beginning of time man has been using flowers as a decoration. People have always had a desire to decorate to show an artistic flair and flower arrangements were one of the first options available. Long before there was paint the most colourful thing around was flowers. Because of their beauty flowers have remained a popular decoration to this day and that is unlikely to change anytime soon, and with the option of buying flowers online, even more people are finding it fun to have some fresh flowers in their house on a weekly basis!